


One Message

by WelkinAkiania



Category: Formula 1 RPF
Genre: M/M, but I am poor in English, playing truth or dare, so that's it, translate by myself
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-24
Updated: 2020-07-24
Packaged: 2021-03-05 04:28:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,967
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25488517
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WelkinAkiania/pseuds/WelkinAkiania
Summary: Max was asked to send a message of love to his crush when playing truth or dare.
Relationships: Charles Leclerc/Max Verstappen
Comments: 1
Kudos: 45





	One Message

**Author's Note:**

  * For [JayWEI](https://archiveofourown.org/users/JayWEI/gifts).
  * A translation of [（3316）一条信息](https://archiveofourown.org/works/25424482) by [WelkinAkiania](https://archiveofourown.org/users/WelkinAkiania/pseuds/WelkinAkiania). 



> *The title comes from the 2020 College Entrance Examination of Beijing, China  
> *This is my first time to write in English(In fact: write first in Chinese then translate into English), which is not my mother tongue, so I'd like to apologize in advance for any possible grammar mistakes

***  
Lando kept his eyes fixed on Max's, "No, you have."

Max grabbed his hair, feeling hard to argue. He leaned back in his chair and looked at the ceiling, howling in despair, "No, I don't! No such thing, Lando, you can't betray me!"

"What do you mean by 'betrayal'? Max, you really──" A burst of cheers broke out around the table, followed by humming noises one after another. Daniel stood on a chair and waved his wine glass, aspirational to winning Max's phone, "Catch him, Lando! You can't let him run away, he must send the message!"

There was chaos near the table. Drivers clapped their hands, cheering for the exciting moment of truth or dare, "Max, come on, don't be a chicken!"

However, the person who was repeatedly called kept holding his phone tightly. Max's face flushed, and he refused to follow the instructions.

Daniel sighed and pointed to the champagne bottle on the table. The mouth was facing the No. 33 driver. "Max, you have to abide by the rule: we have chosen you, and you have to do it, this is the rule; Louis, Kimi and Seb all did it, and you should too, this is the rule."

Max shook his head, the blush on his face faded slightly. Obviously, his flushed face wasn't out of drunkenness, but was from excitement and ashame. He has now fallen from the peak of his emotions, calming down and looking back into Daniel's eyes with kind of sober hopelessness, "I really can't do this."

"Well, back to our first question: you do have a crush, don't you?"

Lando regained his vitality and raised his hand to answer, "He must have! Tonight he──"

"Laaannndddooo!" Max jumped up, his hand shot to his mouth to stifle Lando's words, "Stop discussing this, okay!"

"So..." Daniel's eyes rolled, and he realized something very interesting. Although he was slightly negligent in paying attention to the emotional life of his former teammate, he still has a chance to remedy it. "Take it seriously Max, we are helping you, not playing on you."

"But you are just playting on me."

"Okay." Daniel sighed again. He looked around. This is the largest table in the bar, where almost all the F1 drivers participating in today's race are seated. Their eyes were shining, waiting for potential breaking news. Daniel continued, "Is she someone we know?"

Max hesitated, and didn't give his answer immediately. He raised his head, trying to look around with the slightest movement, but Daniel caught his look clearly, "Is she on the scene? Wow, she came to your game?" Seeing Max did not nod, he made another conjecture, "First time to meet tonight? Love at first sight, you really──"

Daniel's ebullient words floated in the air, leading all drivers to happy laughters, except for the teased one. Max stared blankly at a certain gap in the crowd. He did not respond, until everyone calmed down. Thefinal sound of Daniel's joke was still echoing, revealing weakness and embarrassment.

Seeing that Max was not in high spirits, Lando tipped Daniel a wink──it is always interesting to play truth or dare, but jokes are no longer necessary when they affect participants' mood. However, Daniel obviously had a different idea. He walked over to Max, pulled out the chair and sat down, "Man, we are not trying to play on you, we want to help you instead. Think it over, Max, don't you think it's appropriate now to say it? If yes, then send the message."

Max slowly released the phone──just now he grabbed it with more strength than holding the steering wheel, for fear that it would be snatched away by lookers-on: They would then found out the name marked with an asterisk in the address book, and send that fatal message. Then what should he do? He looked around again, running down all drivers seated here, but didn't find the person he missed. Although Max shared the podium with him today, he didn't seem interested in the celebration dinner, and he might have returned to the hotel room now. Thinking of this, Max almost had to hammer his head in regret. It was damned. He patronized this group of people on some truth or dare, but he lost his crush.

Daniel watched the expression changing on Max's face, presumably he was engaged in a fierce struggle. This is very boring──it seems that the relationship between Max and his crush has not yet developed mature enough. It isn't the best time to confess now, so they shouldn't make trouble. Daniel tried to sweep away the embarrassment on the table, signaled the round to be abolished, and instructed the previous victim to turn the bottle again. The mouth of the bottle was like an eye, looking for the next unlucky one with gaze. Daniel stared at Max, who was still unsure, and a strange but wonderful feeling came out in his heart: He has worked with Max for years, and has been attracted by the rhino-like brave and rampaging youth. This night seems to be the first time he has seen the other side of Max: He is young in his early twenties when walking out of the paddock, sometimes suffering from gains and losses, sometimes being indecisive, sometimes waiting for a sweetheart to greatly affect his mood.

At the end of Daniel's sight, Max put his phone on the table, clasped his hands, his expression solemn, as if he was making a difficult decision.

***  
Max didn't feel very good. When he returned to the room, he threw himself on the bed and buried his face in the quilt. Rather than the hustle and bustle of the dinner scene just now, it's behaving like an ostrich that can temporarily calm him down and find the inner answer──wait!

He rolled over and got up, and took out the phone from his trouser pocket. Clicking on the address book, all contacts are noted with their real names, the same is true for Charles Leclerc, the only difference is that there is an asterisk in front of his name. In this way, Max can receive a unique reminder for every message and every phone call sent by Charles, just as the unique position Charles has in his heart.

It's not kidding, Max's crush is the Ferrari driver of his age. If this fact were shaken out at the dinner party just now, it would definitely cause an uproar: What Daniel thought is just what normal people thought, that Max likes a girl and tries to find her at the banquet. Who would have thought that the person is actually the same gender as him, and that he has always been his rival?

If this question were tossed to Max, he would also fall into the contemplation, racking his brains to think. In any sense, Charles shouldn't be his crush──first of all, on gender, Max goes through his chaotic adolescence memories, never considering himself gay; secondly, they have known each other from a very young age, from the karting race to the F1 stage, they are always tit-for-tat. Whenever they meet, their eyes can always burst with passion, fighting spirit, and the fire of beating each other. He and Charles have similar personalities and similar interests. Maybe they will become friends in some parallel universe, but at least for now, they are rivals.

They are rivals. Max repeated this sentence in his heart, thinking: if they could become friends, they would be called brothers as early as ten years ago; if they would like each other, he would show this affection as early as ten years ago. But the timing of this liking was unclear. He could not deny that such a day existed, since which his attention to Charles has changed. The way he looked into Charles' eyes infused with another emotion. In the past, he was able to walk through Ferrari's P room with his head high, when he met his old opponent, he could also glance at his old opponent with contempt, sarcastically greet or slam into his shoulder. But since then, he never dared to act like that. He was afraid that he could not hide the affection in his eyes, he was afraid of turning provocation into flirting, he was afraid of seeing Charles's astonishment.

Max groaned and lay back into the quilt──it was too difficult! When Daniel asked him whether the time was right, instantly he was almost hit down by the pain of crush. He also thought of Lando, who was particularly active tonight. This guy may not know that he likes Charles, but it was too obvious for Lando to know these exists someone in his heart──he stood on the podium, he was supposed to celebrate wildly tonight, but he was actually quietly meditating all night. Lando and Daniel may have seen through his secret. Back to Daniel, this was certainly not the right time. Even if he had noticed his feelings, his relationship with Charles did not change to a better way, or it even slipped to a worse one. After Charles realized that Max was deliberately hiding from him, he began to avoid it. During their rare chance to meet, Charles always chose to pass by without saying a word. At the thought of that handsome face with no expression, Max's whole heart was strained: he loves the soft-faced Charles, he loves Charles who laughs defenselessly, he doesn't want any trace of haze appeared on that face.

He bit his lip and clicked on the inbox. The chat history between him and Charles is pitifully rare. Since exchanging numbers, they have only contacted each other on major holidays and birthdays. When this is achieved offline in the form of a short greeting, there will be no second greeting in the mailbox. If one of them wins, they will only communicate briefly that night, usually Charles congratulates him coldly, or he pretends to bless Charles. In short, in this way of getting along and the frequency of communication, sending a short message like that according to their requirements of truth or dare is too strange...

Max clicked on the input box and typed what they required him to send.

Please date with me!

After typing, Max lay there, holding his phone, staring at this sentence in a daze. He once hoped that this unrequited crush could disappear silently, but it has become more and more intense with the passage of time. Maybe he should make a plan, and one day he will be able to bravely send it out when he reaches some goal.

Max glanced at that sentence back and forth again. All of a sudden, a call came in, and the interface showed that the caller was Daniel. Max ran his finger across the screen and heard the warm voice of his former teammate, "Hello, Max?"

Without waiting for Max to respond, Daniel continued, "Max, I want you to make the decision carefully. Maybe the time is not ripe yet, but I hope you can send this message some day in the future──this is the first time I have seen you like this! Anyway, Max, I wish you a successful confession!"

Daniel said it like a barrage of words, and then fell silent. Max took down the phone and subconsciously moved to the location of the hang-up button. He turned off his phone and continued to face the ceiling in a daze. Daniel is right. He should actually be grateful to those drivers. Without them, maybe he would not make up his mind yet──

Wait?!

A gust of chills climbed up Max's back along his spine. The alarm in his mind roared, he recalled the screen of his phone: Daniel hung up immediately after talking for a long time, then he subconsciously The button that was pressed, that screen, it may be...

Max sprang up, his fingers shaking as he finished unlocking. After the screen lit up, the tremor spread all over him──the most terrible thing happened. He was right. He thought he had been pressing the hang-up button on the phone, but he actually sent out the message in the input box.

Faced with the latest message from himself in the conversation with Charles, Max felt that his newly established hope had collapsed again.

He resigned himself to thinking about it. Since it can't be worse, it's better to go to Charles and make it clear now.

***  
Charles was lying on the hotel bed, his phone tossed aside. The thoughts in his mind were messed up, everything that happened in the past day was so cluttered that he couldn't breathe under this pressure.

The race went smoothly, with no accidents or breakdowns. He stood on the podium happily, shoulder to shoulder with Max. He tried to hold his expression, so that he won't too brilliant in the group photo──he cannot let his secret love be exposed when there is no progress!

Thinking of Max, Charles sighed inaudibly. He often thinks narcissistically that, on his own terms, he will probably succeed in chasing anyone easily, but his courage to challenge is also reflected in his emotional life. He chose his rival Max Verstappen as his crush. Too bad, he thought. Originally, the relationship between the two was really not close. He managed to summon up the courage to look at Max's eyes, but found that Max lowered his head and frowned, and hurriedly passed him by, even unwilling to leave another look. What can he do? After the person he likes shows resistance, can he still stick it up enthusiastically? Charles' character doesn't allow him to do this, so he took a step back, trying his best to avoid any unnecessary meeting with Max.

But for the necessary occasions such as standing together on the podium and sitting side by side at the after-match dinner, Charles is still willing to stay with Max. That's how it was today. He performed well, stood on the podium with Max, and sat opposite Max at the dinner. The lights in the bar were dimming and dimming. Twenty drivers at the table were gathering around the table. He quietly raised his eyes to look at the sweetheart on the opposite side. No one would find his loving eyes. That was good.

However, such the night is always on its way to some exciting games. On the table, bottles of champagne, beer and so on are piled together, and Daniel first proposes to turn the bottles to play truth or dare. Charles was one among the many coaxers at first. All the questions were innocuous and interesting. They asked the latest bedwetting time of Louis, and told Kimi to show love to his wife. The Finn protested, shouting "Too numb and shameful", but he also smiled and completed the challenge.

Then, Kimi started the next round of turntable. The mouth of the bottle finally stopped in front of Charles's teammates, and Kimi, with a funny smile on hs face, asked a question about Seb's girlfriend. The whole audience burst into laughter. Charles looked up at Max and found him also laughing. His heart suddenly panicked.

Charles was sure that this was not an unreasonable association. He dared to assert that it was a clear and accurate premonition: Truth or dare will always end with questions on love life, and he was sure that Max will be selected, but he himself had no courage to listen to Max's answer.

──He was afraid of Max talking about love, he was afraid of the collapse of his crush.

Charles looked around, everyone was still immersed in Seb's story. He quietly got up without attracting anyone's attention. He was going to run away, back to the hotel room as a cowardly ostrich──even if it is true that Max has a sweetheart, he wouldn't hear the news on the spot.

Now, Charles was still lying in bed, and the phone on the bedside table made a beep, pulling his thoughts back into the cage from the dinner party a few hours ago. He picked up the phone and found that it was Max's text message.

Please date with me!

...What the hell?

Charles was startled. The text message was too sudden that he didn't feel any surprise. Instead, he felt a sense of confusion by being teased. He thought, it must be Max who made a mistake. Too many possible explanations to such inexplicable information: Perhaps he was drunk, perhaps he mistyped the recipient, or perhaps Daniel and the others liked to watch the show and let Max send funny messages to his rival.

An unnamed fire surged from Charles' heart. He has always taken his feelings very seriously, he didn't want to be teased by others! Suddenly, it just so happened that the doorbell rang. He didn't even bother to look at the peephole, so he opened the door. It must be one of the perpetrators, Max or Daniel, who was behind the scenes.

Actually, it was Max. As soon as an angry Charles opened the door, he met with Max. Seeing that it was his crush, he held up his mobile phone with the screen turned on and complained, "Don't play me with your boring truth or dare!"

Max took a hard swallow. Charles' refusal to cooperate was beyond his imagination, but anyway, since God has pushed him here, he must face it bravely.

He stepped forward and held Charles in his arms, who was still shaking. He let his arms went through Charles' armpits, gently picked up the phone and tightened his embrace.

"Please date with me." He repeated the message, "It's not a truth or dare, it's that I finally dare to tell the truth."


End file.
